New information and updates

Sometimes information appearing in the book requires updating because new information has come to light,
and it is hoped to try to use this page to add such items as they become
available. Material which is not in the book will be regularly added to its
complementary
website.

This
colour is used to show the latest update, added on
14 February 2019

38

At the
time of writing I was unable to confirm that Turkish baths had
actually been opened in Sligo, and any possible address was unknown.
Following references found in Sport and Ireland: a history
by Paul Rouse (Oxford: OUP, 2015), we now know that the
baths did open. Detailed below under their respective page numbers
are changes resulting from this new data.

In Table 6.1, the question mark (?) referring to location should be replaced with:
Finisklin Road.

39

At the time of writing,
I only had a partial description of the interior of Barter's
original baths at Grenville Place/Grenville Quay. I was also unable to determine when
the baths closed.

In an 1860 lecture in Cork, later published as a pamphlet, Dr
William J Cummins described his own visit to the baths. From this,
we now know that the hot rooms were heated to 100-110°F and 140-150°F.
There was also a lavatorium where taps 'of hot and cold
water open into a large basin, and can be mixed at any temperature,' and a
cold douche.

And while I was searching for something quite different I serendipitously came across this advertisement in the Cork Constitution published on 22 April 1893 which indicates that the baths closed in 1893. However the wording could be taken to mean that they had closed earlier, and then re-opened for a further, probably shortish, period.
What we cannot know is whether the transfer of the business was
formally agreed between the two establishments or whether the ad was
placed independently by Alf Jacob, whose
South Mall Baths had opened a couple
of years earlier.

46

The last paragraph starting in the first column, should be replaced
with the following:

The other early baths with which Dr Barter was associated were those
in Finisklin Road, Sligo. At the beginning of November 1860, Miss
Jane Lyons, eldest daughter of the mayor, laid the foundation stone
and, according to Paul Rouse in his Sport and Ireland: a history
(Oxford: OUP, 2015), the baths opened in 1861. But there were
clearly major problems—possibly financial—and the baths closed a few
months later in 1862. We don't know what happened next, but the
following year they were already open again, and remained so until they finally closed in
1870.

48

It was suggested that the new baths at the Dublin Hammam at Upper
Sackville Street, opened in 1871 shortly after Dr Barter's death by
his son Mr Richard Barter, might have been planned, and started, by
the doctor before his death.

A confirmation of this has now been found at the beginning of an
article describing the new baths in the Cork Constitution
dated 18 January.

65
and
66

In discussing the appointment of George Somers Clarke as architect
for the Hammam, I wrote that we do not know why he was appointed,
since he had not previously built a public Turkish bath. I then went
on to suggest that he 'might have been chosen because he had previously
worked for one of the company directors.'

I was aware that, some time between 1855 and 1860, Somers Clarke was
building a private Turkish bath as part of the extension to Cowley
Manor (near Cheltenham) for its new owner James Hutchinson. But,
although it had been staring me in the face for several years, I had
not realised that James was the son referred to in Joshua Hutchinson
& Son, who were the stockbrokers to the London & Provincial Turkish Bath Co
Ltd.

The connection was finally made.

113

As the location of the Sligo Turkish baths is now known, the
question mark (?) referring to its location in Table 12.3
should be replaced with:
Finisklin Road.

136
and
320

Newcastle-on-Tyne City Council announced on 23
September 2015 that the Turkish baths, part of the City Pool and
City Hall which were closed in April 2013, would now be taken on by
Fusion Lifestyle Ltd who would restore and reopen the baths.

A spokesperson for the Reopen Newcastle Turkish Baths Group, which
worked with Newcastle City Council, said: 'We are delighted that our
voluntary work and campaigning over the last two and half years has
been successful in ensuring that the Turkish Baths and City Pool are
re-opened as affordable and accessible leisure facilities.'

It is not yet known when the baths are expected to reopen.

212

Hydropathy is only mentioned in the book when it is inseparably
linked to the provision of the Victorian Turkish bath or is required
as a context for what follows.

Anyone wishing to get a clearer impression of what it was like to
stay at an English hydropathic establishment in the nineteenth century is
strongly recommended to read the Ben Rhydding chapter in Tim
Binding's delightfully unusual and extremely readable On Ilkley Moor: the
story of an English town (Picador, 2001).

229
to
231

Since the section on the Arlington Baths Club, Glasgow, was
published, some exciting new research has been undertaken by the Arlington Baths Club History Group.
An illustrated account of this can be found on their fascinating
website
here.

256
and
257

The Blue Star Line intends to launch a new liner,
Titanic II in 2018 and has released images showing how the
new ship will be an exact replica (in appearance only, it is hoped)
of the original Titanic. Here is a computer render of how the Turkish bath
cooling-room will look.CREDIT: THE BLUE STAR LINE

317

In
2017 the Turkish bath in Mason Road, Birmingham, was closed when the
baths were rebuilt as a leisure centre. An updated chart showing
closures since 1990 is shown below. It was compiled in February 2019
when eight Turkish baths (including one in a members only club) remain
open in England and three (including two in clubs) are still open in
Scotland.

350

In the index entry for
Sligo, the location is now known to be Finisklin Road.